Share this:

Barbara McClintock - Banquet Speech

I am delighted to be here, and charmed by the warmth of the
Swedish people. And I wish to thank them for their many
courtesies.

I understand I am here this evening because
the maize plant, with which I have worked for many years,
revealed a genetic phenomenon that was totally at odds with the
dogma of the times, the mid-nineteen forties. Recently, with the
general acceptance of this phenomenon, I have been asked, notably
by young investigators, just how I felt during the long period
when my work was ignored, dismissed, or aroused frustration. At
first, I must admit, I was surprised and then puzzled, as I
thought the evidence and the logic sustaining my interpretation
of it, were sufficiently revealing. It soon became clear,
however, that tacit assumptions - the substance of dogma - served
as a barrier to effective communication. My understanding of the
phenomenon responsible for rapid changes in gene action,
including variegated expressions commonly seen in both plants and
animals, was much too radical for the time. A person would need
to have my experiences, or ones similar to them, to penetrate
this barrier. Subsequently, several maize geneticists did
recognize and explore the nature of this phenomenon, and they
must have felt the same exclusions. New techniques made it
possible to realize that the phenomenon was universal, but this
was many years later. In the interim I was not invited to give
lectures or seminars, except on rare occasions, or to serve on
committees or panels, or to perform other scientists' duties.
Instead of causing personal difficulties, this long interval
proved to be a delight. It allowed complete freedom to continue
investigations without interruption, and for the pure joy they
provided.